SECAP: Ambato Style

Alright, how to even start describing my time at SECAP Ambato…Here it goes…

Krishna and I walked into SECAP the first Monday we got here 2 weeks ago. SECAP is an acronym for Servicio Ecuatoriano De Capitación Profesional is a trade school for anyone who wants to go back to school or take classes on the side. I have a range of students from the age of 12 to 60. It is pretty crazy! There is a 5 story main building where the administration and classrooms are. Then there are also several other buildings where other classes are held. When I arrive everyday I am greeted by the friendly and slightly toothless security guard. That first day we walked into SECAP not knowing who to talk to seeing as I only had the back of a MEGAMAXI receipt where I had scribbled names on the night before when I had talked to my director. We ended up talking to a woman for half of an hour and then found out that we were going to be giving placement tests for the next couple of weeks. So we returned the next day and looked over the placement tests for Basic I and Intermediate II. How it works is that right now SECAP is offering 2 class levels, Basic I and Intermediate II. If they pass the Basic 1 test they are supposed to wait 3 months for the next round of classes when Basic II is offered. If they pass the Intermediate II test, they can enter this class, but if they don’t they can either start all the way over with Basic I, wait three months for Basic II, or six months for Intermediate I. After hearing these options the majority of the students took the Intermediate II classes and most of them didn’t pass. So when it was time to start classes, instead of having 2 basic classes and 2 intermediate classes, we had 3 basic and 1 intermediate.

My class schedule is Monday through Thursday with two 2.5 hour classes. Despite having ridiculously long classes, my schedule isn’t too shabby because I also have Fridays off. The first class is from 3:45-6:15pm and the second is from 6:30-9:00pm. My first class is pretty young, I have 30ish students who are close in age to me. I would say late teens to 26 with the addition of a 45 year old. My second class at one point had 40 people signed up for the class. At first I didn’t have a list and didn’t know that I was over by 10 students. The thing is, WorldTeach and SECAP signed a contract that WorldTeach volunteers are not supposed to have more than 30 students in each of their classes from the beginning of the term. I was basically over by a third of what I should have been. I asked the other volunteer Krishna, if he had as many students in his class and he didn’t. When I asked why I had so many students they told me it was because of the “room” that I am in. It is basically a giant conference room that they call the auditorium. It has desks and tables, just barely enough for the 39 students in my class.

When I voiced my concern to the SECAP people that I had WAY too many people in my class after my first class, they told me, “tranquilo, tranquilo, hay estudiantes no estarán en la clase después uno o dos semanas” basically what they told me was “be calm, be calm, there won’t be this many people in the class in a couple of weeks because they will drop out”. This was not comforting. It only got better the next day when one of the SECAP people brought another student to my class, “por favor, uno más?” in front of the student. How do you say no to that? By that time I had 40 people in my class and I was starting to panic. I called my director 3 minutes before class started to double check that this wasn’t okay, and sure enough, it is not okay. So I taught my class that night and talked to my director the following day.  She called SECAP Ambato and yelled at them for a bit that they were breaking contract. She told themt hat I would have my own classroom with 30 students or less. IT was their problem to fix, not mine. So when I arrived that afternoon, I was ushered into the office of another random SECAP person and told to sit down. I talked with the people and they wanted to hire me an assistant for my class. This was a nice gesture, but not part of the deal. All I told them was that I had to talk to my director about the situation. By the end of my first class they had called somebody into SECAP to be my assistant for this past Monday. She seemed nice, but I wasn’t too sure how her English was. I called my director again and told her about the solution SECAP had come up with hiring me an assistant. Again, she insisted that I would have my own classroom with less than 30 students. She called SECAP again and told them this and they agreed that they would split the class and some would go with me and some would go with the assistant. This seemed like a reasonable agreement and Kate (my director) and I were okay with this agreement.

Monday rolled around and I went to class. There were only 31 students in my class that day, and SECAP didn’t want to split the class. So we stayed together as a big group. My assistant showed up but sat on the side of the class while I lectured and then left early. The more I talked to her the more I realized that her English was not good. Luckily my host brother Neto who studied and lived in England for 4 years and teaches history in English at a high school decided that he wanted to come and watch me teach and help if needed. Believe me, it was fun for him to be there and he was such a big help. Plus it was good for my students to hear the difference between an “American” (United Sates) accent and an English Accent.

 When I called Kate the next day to give her an update on the situation she told me that she wanted to put me on strike until SECAP Ambato got their act together. I told her that I could teach this class, but she mentioned that she didn’t want this to happen in the future and that it is more the principle that they can’t continue to overbook the classes in the future. I wasn’t too wild about the idea of going on strike, but I am willing to take one for the team. Kate even wanted to put all of the SECAP volunteers on strike until my situation in Ambato was fixed. She called some more people, got into a brawl with the lady here at Ambato and then called the headquarters in Quito. They had no idea this was happening and that SECAP wasn’t doing much to help the situation. They were just waiting for the numbers to drop. Apparently this is a trend for SECAP Ambato, but no other volunteers had made such a big deal. What a mess. In the mean time I was getting really stressed about the situation, but I am so freaking lucky to have our WorldTeach staff. They are truly amazing. So apparently the situation is being fixed. I don’t really know what is going to happen except they want to move some people to the afternoon class or put 5 people with someone else so that there are officially only 30 people in my class. So work has been only a little stressful…Asi es la vida right? This is a popular phrase that basically translates to, “well that is life”. I am still a little taken aback that all happened to me. Regardless my students are great! It is unfortunate because they are the ones who will suffer the most. I certainly hope that the situation will get better soon.

Seriously though, my students and my family have made my time in Ambato so awesome. I am lucky to be here. Despite this fiasco or nightmare at SECAP, things are going well. I took a trip to Baños which is this super touristy hot spot at the foot of a volcano. It is this beautiful little city with lots of hostels, extreme sports, and dance clubs. I went with a couple of friends overnight and it was a blast! I was also invited to an Ecuadorian film called Zoquillo Express about 4 Ecuadorian women who want to go to the U.S. and are basically tricked by their guide that they are driving through Columbia, and the other countries to make it to the U.S. when in reality their tour guide is just driving them around the countryside of Ecuador. I was so flattered because I was invited by two of my students. It made me very happy. And then we went out to get a drink afterwards. I am starting to see that despite the lack of curriculum and all the disorganization my students at SECAP are wonderful. They are motivated to learn and really enjoy my class. Teaching has also be so much fun. I was also invited to the mall tonight with a couple of students. Yesterday on my day off I spent the better part of the day teaching my host niece the card game speed. I think we played the game upwards of 30 times so far and listened to California Girls by Katy Perry 10 times. I think we will be playing it a lot…

A lot of really random things have been happening though. Yesterday I didn’t have class because there is a bus strike going on. I still don’t know if I have class today, but the latest update is that there are police protests going on all over the country trying to overthrow the government. So, things have been interesting around here. I really don’t know what to expect and don’t even know if I am having class tonight. I guess I will just go with it for right now.  Thanks for reading all of this! I know it is a lot. I will try to write more frequently I am just trying to get this teaching thing under control. I will keep you all updated on my life and hopefully more updates will be coming soon.

Sending love from Ecuador!

Caitlin

p.s. another blog soon about the police protests happening right now...

Made it to Ambato!

 Hello everyone! I am so sorry for the delay in my blog posts. I know it has been a long time and I apologize! I have made it to Ambato and so far I really really like it.

My last couple of weeks in Quito were really good. Where  did I leave off? I think the last blog post that I wrote was over 2 weeks ago. A couple of weekends ago I went to Otavalo with my family in Quito. My host grandma (who is only 58) named Mariana grew up in Otavalo. Her parents still live in Otavalo. First let me explain what Otavalo is like. Otavalo is a mid sized city that is famous for its markets. In the Lonely Planet guidebook it is number three in the top ten things to do in Ecuador. It is described as,

“The modern world comes crashing up against the old in a sensory assault of color, smell, and sound. Under the cloud-covered shadow of the Imbabura volcanic peak, virtually the whole town is transformed into a street market. From the spectacularly colorful, locally woven textiles to the carved wooden trinkets; from the food vendors selling hot snacks from hand-woven baskets to the colorful watercolorists from the Peruvian school painting and selling their scenes of local folklore.”

And let me tell you, it was just that. It was beautiful. Situated at the foot of a volcano Otavalo had a beautiful backdrop. On the drives in and out I kept thinking to myself, “this is so beautiful”. It was breathtaking. I will definitely be taking a trip back to Otavalo this upcoming year. Plus Mariana’s family was so sweet. Her parents are both 86 years old, have been married for 68 years and had 10 children. When I talked to the mom, she kept telling me how proud she was of their children, “todos mis hijos son educativo y profesionales” All of them are educated and have are professionals. She also called me mijita which is a term of endearment that means my little daughter. That is one thing about Ecuadorians, they are so friendly and take you under their wing without hesitation. In both families I became mija just like that. All of the family came over and we prepared a big lunch that came from the market just outside of their house. The abuelitos have an internet café that leads to their house in the back. It was such a cool house that opened up to a courtyard that lead back to their room and kitchen. Then on the 2^nd, 3^rd, and 4^th floor of the house were all the extra bedrooms for their 10 children. This house was awesome! They have also told me that whenever I want to come to Otavalo I am welcome to stay with them in their house. It was a really nice day.

Orientation continued in Quito for another two weeks. We started learning how to become teachers and learned quickly. We also had the opportunity to teach English in a free 2-week course offered at the local SECAP, or professional trade school. We each had 2 or three days to teach and get all of our jitters out. It was very helpful. I know what works and what doesn’t. And if I might say so, I think it went really well. I was pleased with my 3 days of teaching. At first I was a little discouraged because I was given advanced students and had no idea what to teach them, but by the end I was excelling. We had a party at the end of the course and gave them certificates at a restaurant and had beers. It was great. I really enjoyed myself and now have some people to hang out when I return to Quito (besides my fellow World Teach volunteers, of course).

I finally arrived in Ambato yesterday afternoon. There are 6 WorldTeach volunteers including myself here in Ambato. Usually volunteers just take a bus to get to Ambato when they move from Quito, but luckily one of us had an in with a tour guide company because he knew the guy from when his family visited earlier.  Anyways, long story short I thought that we were going to get a 12 passenger van and was pleasantly surprised when there was a private tour bus in front of the hotel. The $20 bucks was worth it with a private driver who took care of our luggage for us and delivered us to each of our houses.

I haven’t seen much of Ambato yet, but it seems like a really nice city! It was destroyed in an earthquake in 1949 so it was rebuilt from this. The buildings don’t really match and the city isn’t all that pretty, but I don’t really care. It is surrounded by the Andes and the volcano Tungarahua is close by. There is a town center with statues, a square, churches, and government buildings. Tomorrow I am going to try to conquer public transit to find my way to SECAP where I will be teaching English for the year.

My family in Ambato is great! I live with my host parents, Elvia and Nestor who are both in their 50’s. She runs the family store that is literally right outside of her house. You can step into the store from the hallway. The store is full of random items that she buys in Quito, Cuenca, and Guayquil to sell here in Ambato. I thought Nestor worked for the University here in Ambato, but he said he does something different. I still haven’t quite figured that out yet. They have 4 children, 3 boys and 1 girl. The oldest son lives and works in Spain with his wife and I probably won’t meet him. Girleza is the daughter in her 30’s and she is quite the powerhouse. She is the manager of a clothing store here in the local mall and in other branches in Ecuador. She is definitely the cool older sister. She is totally glamorous, beautiful, and  so smart. She lives here in the house with her 11-year-old daughter, Milena who is quite the chatter bug. She has shown me everything in the house and taken me on a tour of all her stuffed animals and photos of the family. She is welcoming and gives lots of hugs! She is the little sister that I never had. I met the other two sons and they were very nice. Daniel, comes home on the weekends but studies in Quito during the week, he was really nice. Nestor is the other son who is a high school English teacher here in Ambato. He lived abroad in England for 4 years and is fluent in English. He promised that when he gets back from a conference in Guayaquil he would show me around Ambato, so that is really cool!

I live in a big beautiful house in a centrally located and safe neighborhood. The house is so beautiful. I have my own room, and share a bathroom. I arrived yesterday afternoon with a nasty cold, but it hasn’t deterred me from anything. I absolutely love this family. Last night they took me to a professional basketball game where Ambato beat Quito! I am calling that a good omen for the year! Pro basketball here is pretty interesting. It was kind of like high school basketball in the states. Nonetheless, it was really fun and I had a great time with my new family. After sleeping for 12 hours last night, The family went on a walk in the park here in Ambato. It was a really cool park that had tons of trees and a nice walking trail. I think I will be going there often this year. After our walk I tried a local dish of cooked pig skin (yum! . . .not) with chochos (a type of bean), tostadas (toasted corn kernels), and an onion and tomato salad all topped off with orange. I wasn’t a big fan of the pig skin, it was really chewy and didn’t taste all that great, but I am glad that I tried it for sure! After we came back and had a big lunch we went outside of the city to see where Girleza and her boyfriend are building a house, had ice cream, and then returned back to the house. Then I discovered that I had wireless internet! If I had to choose between wireless internet and hot water, I would definitely choose internet so that I can be in touch with all of you! After I skyped with mom and my best friend Alex, we went to the mall and watched a movie. Man, I lucked out. What an awesome day! I am so happy to be in Ambato and to be with this family! Sorry for the obnoxiously long post! If you are still reading, know that I think of everyone of you often.

Sending all my love from Ecuador,

Caitlin